The House(s) of Fran_mart

 This has a few snaps from Friday in Canberra.  Going back to an old joke to amuse our daughter "Who stole Black Mountain Tower?"  It is interesting that it almost allows one to envisage what Black Mountain looked like pre-tower.  It, like the cat in a Garrison Keilor song , came back. After an entertaining morning at the croquet lawns I went out to JerrabomberaWetlands hoping to find a 'good' bird for Bird A Day.  I did spot a/the Freckled Duck (already used as BAD) silhouetted against the water.  Really, with this species the silhouette is all that is needed. Just as well since post-editing doesn't greatly improve matters ! There was a good-sized flock of Australian White Ibis towards the Billabong.  I counted 90 Ibis in total but here are a few of them. I cruised over to the far end of the Reserve, hoping to find a Tawny Frogmouth which nested there last year.  I think I spotted the nest being reconstructed but despite peering at the nearby tre...

 To check out a geological site we walked from the Molonglo Gorge car park to Blue Tiles and back.  To avoid the scrambly bits of the track closest to the River (blue line) we came back on forest tracks (yellow dashes). A view down on to the Molonglo River.  A surprisingly strong flow considering the dry conditions. Much moss on this rockface indicates a moist microclimate.  We were surprised that we didn't spot any ferns. More gorge views. This wattle has been identified on iNaturalist as Acacia rubida , which I should have been able to identify myself. Our turn point at Blue Tiles picnic area. I didn't enjoy the rough walk along the track so decided after looking at the map to walk the roads along the edge of Kowen Forest instead. It looked a little longer but much easier walking.  Unfortunately it didn't include the contours of which there were several!  This was the nastiest, between points A and B on the map  From fiddling with Google Earth the cr...

 Looking down from our balcony on 16 August there was a modest flock of Sulphur-crested Cockatoos feeding in a grassy area in Glebe Park. So I took myself off there to see what could be seen.  By and large the birds were behaving well, with only an occasional screeching snap at each other. They were feeding on roots of some description being dug out of the lawn. This was the best I did of an erect crest. This shows how deeply they were delving, Several of the birds had colour between the wings.   This is being done by researchers from  the Cognitive Ecology Group at the Research School of Biology, ANU). We are measuring social networks and foraging ecology in the north-side Canberra cockies, with dye-dots on the backs to identify individuals. They  use these as a non-invasive alternative to trapping and banding - the dots last for around 3 months.  From the list of information on an email to the COG chatline they were tagged at roosts in ANU (pink) an...